Far from defeatist nonsense, it's a recognition of a major failure in civil contingency planning and funding in an allegedly advanced liberal democracy. That failure is attributable to successive Governments and to the continuum of the Civil Service. The article is a pile of steaming manure.
The response to the pandemic was a pathetically incompetent wish washy one with vast holes in the strategy by reliance on an insular view of the data, the testing, and perhaps some of the treatments.
Even the logistics for distributing PPE and Testing was wholly incompetent, sorted by the Army.
The Nightingale hospitals were a tribute to the army of Army and Health professionals, but were to be staffed on a "we'll whistle, they'll come running basis.
What in the polluted air by the road with diesel fuelled buses, trucks etc?
Stick to delivered meals
I didn't say anything about sacking, I wrote "take responsibility". eg I was wrong, or I underestimated the difficulty, or more likely in both cases "we were exhorting people under huge pressure to do more and also encourage producers. That's taking responsibility
Aren't ministers supposed to take responsibility? Cabinet Government requires winning the argument in support of the Minister's Departmental proposals. Losing it is tough, just like in business and every other aspect of life
Very interesting ideas, I really do agree about takeaways/deliveries from small local cafes - we had a fabulous Turkish lunch of most of their Mezze items delivered by the co-owner in his own car assuring us of the careful hygiene in his kitchen with everyone masked and gloves and furloughed if they showed any signs of illness and so on. And I’m sure our hairdresser would appreciate prepayments.
Those immune to further infection, even if only in the short run WILL STILL PASS ON THE VIRUS because it can and does live on skin and clothes where it can readily spread via packaging and personal contact. Sorry David Gauke, it’s a bit more complex than just volunteering because of immunity that’s why those most vulnerable are wholly isolated and are likely to be for a long time yet
And allow porters to prescribe POM, kitchen staff to perform operations with anaesthesia provided by the most flatulent staff available? Oxygen from breaking the windows? All other staffing met from eough sleeper?
This idea is absurd, there are not enough competent staff.
Good article, shews exactly why the Commission' wishes to have oodles more powers to turn it into a Super State and how incompetent it is in most things (Dirty Diesel particulates, Tyre particulates, daft packaging such as permitting plastic nets for selling oranges which while sometimes recyclable always shed particles of un-recyclable plastic on opening etc etc etc and bureaucratically torpid at best and mainly tin-eared to correct errors or respond to novel challenges. The EU has gone too far and should return to being a trading arrangement with security cooperation in policing, dangerous items etc., It's power is simply robbing richer states to bribe smaller and poorer states
![[Avatar]](/images/avatar26.png){kind=avatar}
Creation